Branding Basics: Protecting what's yours

A couple of posts ago I broke down the brand management process into 4 Ps:
  

1) Positioning - identify your unique benefit.
2) Planning - develop a road map for brand identity programs.
3) Protection - guard the integrity of your brand.
4) Promotion - build awareness of and preference for your brand.

Easy, huh?  Maybe not.  I got inundated by how-to questions after that post, so now I'm explaining myself -- point by point.   We're on to #3 Protection.  This is where you marketers get to throw your weight around -- show you're in charge.

Have you heard of the term "logo cop"?  That's part of the Protection piece.  There are lots of ways your logo gets used, and many people in charge of the projects in which that logo appears.  Your plan can anticipate many of them, but new things will come up.  So it goes.

It helps to have a manual that spells out logo usage standards and that's disseminated to all departments.  But I've found these rules all too easy to ignore. What works well is a 3-pronged approach of 1) building relationships throughout your company, 2) gaining a reputation as an easy-to-work-with problem-solver, and 3) being aware of emerging projects that might include a logo.  Then you can control logo use earlier in the process and be viewed as a help, not a hindrance.

Ensuring consistent logo use is tough, but even tougher is safeguarding your brand's image.  First, review your Positioning to define your image.  Then look at your plan.  Where are you promoting your brand?  Your brand's "voice" may shift a bit among mediums due to different demands, but the message should stay the same.  Try to keep the same tone, too.  For example, a buttoned-up engineering firm probably shouldn't sound flippant on Twitter.

Another Protection concern is what others say about your brand.  Start by setting up alerts for your company's name and watch these for good and bad comments.  News travels fast on social networks so respond quickly and non-defensively.  Give humble thanks for praise.  Acknowledge missteps, fix them, and report on the fixes.  Politely refute misinformation with facts.